Physician: US should continue monitoring milk, rain because of Fukushima — It “always” turns out that radiation is higher than first thought

Physician: US should continue monitoring milk, rain because of Fukushima — It “always” turns out that radiation is higher than first thought

Canadian and U.S. authorities have both cut back radiation reporting after detecting only minuscule increases following the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear crisis, despite ongoing clean-up efforts in Japan. [...]

But some critics felt the move was premature given that the world’s second-worst nuclear accident is still unfolding.

“Throughout this and other radiation accidents it has always turned out that more radiation was involved than we initially thought,” said Ira Helfand, a co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility and a physician who practices internal medicine in Springfield, Mass.

“The U.S. should continue to monitor milk and rainwater until we can be sure that the plant is under control and there are no further emissions.”